‘Brazilian Trump’s ally set to win Rio governorship – exit polls

Early exit polls in Brazil indicate that an ally of the right-wing presidential candidate Jair Bolsonaro is likely to win the office of governor of Rio de Janeiro, with a higher-than-expected result. Former judge Wilson Witzel secured 39 percent of the vote, beating former Rio mayor Eduardo Paes, who got 21 percent, preliminary results show. Another Bolsonaro ally, former police major Olimpio Gomes, is set for a surprise win in the Senate race in Sao Paulo state. Pre-election polls showed that Bolsonaro, who advocates dictatorship and police brutality and is riding a wave of public discontent with the establishment, increased his lead over his main competitor Fernando Haddad, but would still fail to secure over 50 percent of the vote, leading to a run-off.